Free Link Love

One of the points I really wanted to stress in my free Viral Copy report was that linking out often to others was one of the key secrets to blogging success. It may be counterintuitive, but it’s the engine that drives the blogosphere.

So, before I launch into another tutorial, I need to do my part. A lot of very cool people linked to Copyblogger in the last week (and the last 3.5 months, for that matter), so I’m itching to return the favor and point out some stuff that has caught my eye recently.

I also want to link to any of my readers who wants one. So here’s the plan.

Drop the link you want promoted in the comments of this post, along with a short description of what makes it interesting. Give me a post you’re proud of.

I’ll then take all the submissions and write them up in an updated version of this post, so everyone will get proper exposure (no spam please).

I know I’ve got a few graphic designers out there on the feed. If you want some solid advice on how to grow your business, check out Kevin Airgid’s book Web Designer’s Success Guide.

I’ve been meaning to post about Dan Pink’s great book A Whole New Mind for awhile, but Ann Michael is doing a great series of posts already, so I’m going to defer to her.

Chartreuse continues to entertain and enlighten just about daily. Here’s one to start with, but hang out a bit and soak it all in.

Ilja van Roon is offering a free 90-page ebook on business writing that works. Check it out, because Ilja has no idea that I need a place to stay next time I’m in The Netherlands, and I need leverage.

Alan Gutierrez caught my attention by calling one of my posts pointless. He may have been right, and he certainly delivers a worthwhile perspective by blogging from post-Katrina New Orleans. FYI, calling one of my posts pointless will only get you a link in approximately 1 out of 1,000,000 instances, but Alan managed it.

I’m about to graduate from University after 3 years studying journalism and hoping to get into writing about the arts. I have worked freelance during the course and have quite a lot of experience. Hoping the blog will help me to get my name out and gain a regular readership.

Hope this is interesting enough, or at least I get a link by being first…

I’m not going to include a link to one of my own, but think you may be interested in linking to a little noticed but good blogger Jesse Skinner. He visits me often and contributes to the content of my site. http://www.thefutureoftheweb.com/

No, I haven’t actually given him the virus per-se, but link to him often.

Alan G. urged me to check out your blog, and when I did I realized I’d been here more then a few times before. I even have a copy of your whitepaper sitting on my desk at work. I’m a fan and I didn’t even know it.

I write Earthling, EarthLink’s blog. Maybe my entry about original thought in blogs and podcasting might be pertinent to your realm.

I’m just getting into this blogging, writing stuff and trying to build a little side business from it all. You’re a tremendous resource and I’m happy that I found you.

My blog is http://www.imdude.com and it’s called the Internet Marketing Dude. I’m working on additional, original content for the site. It’s sparse at the moment but I do hope to improve that. Reading the writing of people like you will, hopefully, help me accomplish that goal.

Thank you for your offer. I have practiced personal injury law in Dallas for 35 years. I have a blog targeted at other lawyers who help the injured.

The description of the blog is: Learn why…Bob Kraft’s P.I.S.S.D. (Personal Injury, Social Security Disability) About the ways injured and disabled persons are mistreated by governments and insurance companies.

I am not an eco-geek, in fact my blog is about the stock market. I thought it would be an interesting link experiment to see if I could get other bloggers to link back to my blog if I “neutralize” one ton of carbon emissions for every link. For every link, I offset one ton of carbon over at http://CarbonFund.org

The blog I’d like to submit is TypePad Hacks, a quickly growing community of TypePad users working together to influence the design of the TypePad blog platform and to find new ways to extend the capabilities of TypePad blogs. The best post to start with is this one:

Copyblogger continues to be one of the most useful writing resources I’ve seen. Ever. So I’d be way, way happy to have an inbound link from your blog… I know I’ll be returning the favor again and again in the future (just ’cause, you know, there’s stuff here I think a lot of people should see).

I figure now is a good time to heap on praise since the link is a done deal anyway… I’m not trying to curry favor so much as give you the props you deserve.

I asked you a question on Owen Wilson’s pursed lips – and would still like a reply. Do you think that PR, good or bad, increases readership on blogs as it is said to do in print media?

I write about Women, Art and Life: Weaving it all together at:http://www.TammyVitale.com
I am a sculptor and find, in writing, that I can’t break out the business of art from living my life or from my feminist soul (no rants over there, but deeply influenced by the divine feminine).

It’s really interesting to see the diverse group of folks who come here!

Glad you’ve picked up on free link lovin’. I think the principle of generous blogging is very important. It just makes good sense to reach out once in a while to others and pat them on the back for what they do well and hten encourage them a bit to do even better. And to link to them shows your readers that you care about their offerings. I hope we can make this a bigger movement than it has already become.

hey, since it’s free, and since all the kool kids read your blog (well, they should anyways, it rocks), i’m going to take you up on your offer, brian.

my weblog sits at http://vasta.typepad.com and i actually just wrote a post on copywriting recently, but if you have any readers in toronto, or canada, or any big city in general, i do think my musings on making toronto ‘work’ are actually decent, so i’d suggest linking to http://vasta.typepad.com/main/toronto/ .

Hi. I found your blog thanks to ProBlogger. I´ve been reading it for a couple of weeks, and I find it very useful.
I have a blog aimed at people who want to visit Argentina. You can find articles about the places to visit, news, and events.